The Littleton Town Hall Arts Center is expecting a baby. And its due date, after a seven-year gestation, is Jan. 20.
That’s when Town Hall opens the world-premiere staging of Longmont married couple Graham and Kristina Macy Fuller’s stage progeny, “In The Trenches – A Brand New Parenting Musical Comedy.”
In 2016, the crazy couple of crooners went looking for the perfect show to perform in together. When they couldn’t find one that fit the bill, they realized their own unfolding journey into parenting was providing them with a treasure trench of material for a musical exploring the unique joys, comedy and craziness of the parenting experience.
Think of it as the love child of “Baby” and “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
The Fullers’ story is one of creative perseverance. Eight development readings were held around Denver from 2017-19. Workshop performances were then hosted by the CenterStage Theater Company in Louisville and the Mizel Arts and Cultural Center in Denver.
The big break happened when New York’s famed Broadway supper club 54 Below invited the Fullers to present a concert version of the show in early 2020. The broken heart happened when COVID happened. Because … it never happened.
That is, until July 13, when the long-delayed, all-Colorado production was warmly received by the 54 Below audience with a cast including the Fullers, Valerie Igoe, Scott Rathbun, Marcos René Ospina, Vidushi Goyal and Anthony Reimer. The director was Robert Michael Sanders, now Town Hall’s Chief Executive Officer.
The performance drew legit producer and investor interest, enough so that 54 Below is bringing ‘In the Trenches’ back for a private investor showcase in March. The ultimate possible impossible dream is an extended Off-Broadway engagement, followed by tours and licensed stagings at theaters all over the country.
But first … the long-awaited, first fully staged production of ‘In the Trenches’ from Jan. 20-29 at Town Hall, with Anne Terze-Schwarz and Nathan Petit joining the Fullers and fellow originals Rathbun and Goyal. And it will make a little history as the first new musical that Town Hall has ever produced in its nearly 40-year history.
Like the phenomenally popular “Love, Perfect, Change,” which follows love’s arc in songs and sketches from first date through parenting through old age, “In the Trenches” plays out as comic vignettes that any parent will identify with. Let’s just say it’s easy to laugh at a mom who retrieves a sticky, hair-covered pacifier from the floor of an airport bathroom while her baby screams bloody murder … when it’s happening to someone else.
“I think ‘In the Trenches’ tells a human story about all the pitfalls of parenting in a real way that makes you laugh throughout,” said Sanders. “It’s got heart, humor and some potty-mouth, too. It’s a musical about kids that you don’t want to take the kids to. It’s a perfect date night or moms’ night out.”
Whatever its ultimate fate, “In the Trenches” is easily one of the feel-good success stories of the theater year. “This is a show that is 100 percent written, produced, arranged and presented by local artists, and we should celebrate that,” Sanders said.
“It proves that we have a lot of real talent here in Denver.”
Note: The True West Awards, now in their 22nd year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 of the best stories from the past year without categories or nominations.